Koi to Uso – 07

See, told you, of course little Nejikins wouldn’t sleep with Ririna. Sure he may have given her a mouthful and breached the barrier of her feeble anti-love defense, but the important factor—Ririna winning—has been successfully avoided. For now. Ririna is in love, Neji is falling, and Misaki has taken the first step towards giving into her desires. I dare say we’re on the cusp of something delicious.

The two key changes this week of course were the girls. Ririna’s acknowledged fall (at least on Misaki’s part) was always the inevitable conclusion once this show’s wheels started turning. While Ririna continues resisting her feelings, they are strengthening rapidly as her confused loneliness perfectly highlights. Ririna wants Neji, but doesn’t know how to go about getting him. The heartache, the embarrassment, they run against her cutely rational way of approaching love, so she responds the only way she knows how: setting some distance and thinking about things. There was honestly a moment where I thought her letter to Neji would be a rejection of the dweeb—perfect place for a plot upending shocker—but no, Ririna’s response was fitting for the moment and her mindset. She may not know how to intimately approach Neji yet, but his sexual advance did everything it had to for Ririna to start seeing him as more than a friend. It might take an episode or two yet, but Ririna will come out and confess her love, guaranteed.

Misaki on the other hand is rising to the status of third wheel spoiler, if her actions are anything to go by. Her self-professed Neji ban has failed, Ririna has revealed her budding feelings, and Neji appears to be diverging away from her. You basically can taste the tragedy of Misaki’s future, which makes it all the more sad. Unlike other romance stories, Neji has two similar options in Misaki and Ririna, with both equally good as a happy ending. In any “normal” circumstance Misaki would win the fight outright, but this is KtU and we have matchmaking to consider. As Motoi’s lament on past crushes shows, Neji only has one chance and his choice may not be everything he expects. After all, Misaki may be the “perfect” match, but is it worth all the associated problems? Take Ririna, and potentially deal with a less intimate, love-filled relationship? It would be a lie if I said this predicament did not intrigue the hell out of me. What makes it all the better too is Misaki’s refusal to reveal our lovebirds’ feelings to one another. It’s only a small change at the moment (once Ririna confesses it won’t do anything for example), but it sets Misaki up for a more disruptive role. Deliberate silence is just one small step from open seduction in this case, and Misaki has certainly proven adept in that department.

With the drama wheels turning it only makes sense to have a situation bringing everyone together, and what better way than a gender bent Romeo and Juliet play. We’ve seen this setup countless times, but with Yuusuke playing princess, Misaki pulling prince duty, and Neji stuck in the middle with a brooding Ririna in the crowd, oh I expect some serious fireworks. Neji’s innocence may be blinding, but the forthcoming drama? It will be spectacular.

As someone who spent years in therapy after a relationship breakup, I know how true Misaka’s line is. So this show really ought to be pushing my buttons, but somehow it’s just not managing to do that any more. The music is the thing that gets nearest, but I suspect that might simply be because it’s from the same composer as Kuzu no Honkai. I think really it’s just frustration at Neji. He’s so innocent it’s almost beyond belief, but is that what happens when you know that you don’t have to bother with these things because the government will find a partner for you?

I think his innocence goes beyond the matchmaking, it’s something which exists in the real world for example. The difference is Neji’s personality is intensified and played up, making it annoying because we have not seen anything besides it. He did change a bit by coming onto Ririna this episode, but then reverted immediately back to his normal self. We really need to see some tangible, lasting development on Neji’s part IMO.

As far as Neji being innocent (or ignorant, take your pick), this is not the least bit unusual for high school boys. Everyone thinks that they were a Don Juan back in school, but the majority of boys have no clue on how to interact with a girl.

I really liked the show for the first four or so episodes. The last few have brought me down.

A big part of that is the disconnect between how hapless Nejima is (drops his prize charm, gets his hand hammered, his stupid reactions to everything anyone says to him — and that’s just in this episode) and how the two females in the show have fallen for him. I don’t expect him to be suave or anything but he’s a little too wretched for me to root for.

While Lilina is an innocent and I could see her getting confused, Misaki is anything but. She certainly has all the physical charms to entice whichever guys she might be interested in, and the capacity to pursue her goals. If she had a reason for falling for Nejima, I’ve forgotten it.

While in previous episodes, I sort of thought of him as the utmost in being malleable, but this episode I was thinking of him as more like dandelion fluff, blowing whichever way an air current might send him, sometimes getting stuck on something. As a character, he can’t really carry a show.

As such, the show has sort of stalled out for me but with Misaki’s return, and where they finally appear to be in the story, I’m kind of hopeful it will pick up.

As an aside, I would have liked it if the episode’s title had been translated as “Omission” rather than what it was.

As another aside, that opening scene, along with some in previous episodes, makes me think of Nazo no Kanojo X.

Neji is your typical pusillanimous teenage male lead. He does everything he does because it helps both generate drama and provide a modicum of wish fulfillment. Only difference is Neji comes off worse than the typical male lead because of his ridiculously soft spoken voice and the serious nature of the premise. I’d like to think he’s improving (he did come onto Ririna, hardly see that happening elsewhere), but we won’t know until Ririna and Misaki come into open romantic conflict.

As for Misaki, she fell in love because something something half an eraser and cute face. The usual contrived romance scenario complete with the childhood “friend” requirement. It exists just to give Ririna an opponent, but to KtU’s benefit it hasn’t been discussed much beyond setting up the initial pairings.

I get your other point but at this stage I find him lower than your typical pusillanimous lead, and not trending upward. As to his speech patterns, I find his inability to finish a thought of his own to be worse than his actual voice, but this just compounds his other issues as far as I’m concerned.

For what it’s worth, I don’t think that he’s improving. After all, he was kissing Misaki on a fairly routine basis… not on his own of course, but only because he was instructed to do so, and Ririna followed up to ensure compliance. He was borrowing her spine, so to speak. I’m also pretty sure that Misaki is more than capable of amping up the sexual tension whenever she wants to, so maybe that was a factor. Anyway, I felt that early in the show, he seemed fully functional. Remember, he was planning on defying the state on this most important societal issue. Not so much anymore. Now, as you suggest, his failings are being used as cheap plot devices. Using them for bad cliffhangers, as with the previous episode, doesn’t help. Also, it wasn’t that long ago while camping that he failed at calling the two girls to dinner.

He only pushed Ririna down and kissed her because of something he overheard. Even that much action left him a wreck who spent the night curled up in a ball. The other things he did… writing to Ririna, and committing to giving his all for the festival… were just things other people told him to do. So who will tell him to do what next week?

At the beginning of the show, I sort of considered him to be an ‘everyman’ who had been inserted into an unusual situation (for us, not within the show’s premise). I don’t feel that way anymore though.

He’s the kind of guy that can be blackmailed without actually having any dirt or leverage. He’s become a perpetual victim of circumstances, or off-hand comments, and I find it hard to cheer for dandelion fluff.

He doesn’t care more about her yet, but he’s definitely considering Ririna’s feelings and his own desires openly now. Without a doubt though Misaki is trending downwards, which she knows only too well now—she’s on a timer when it comes to Neji.

The difference between pancakes and hotcakes is that when you cook pancakes you put a measure of batter on the pan, cook, then flip it. With hotcakes, after they are cooked on one side, you add a little extra batter before you flip it. This makes them thicker and fluffier. Or so my mother told me.

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